Cornwall by public transport? Help...

[Peregrane]

We have never been in Cornwall and have really set our heart on holidaying there this year. Ideally close to a child-friendly beach (DC is nearly 4) and beautiful nature, some facilities to keep DH interested (e.g. museums) would be a nice bonus but not a must. And we would love to visit the Eden Project.

However, I am really keen to avoid having to rent a car and drive. Just not a confident driver, and DH does not drive at all. I've been looking up all the recommendations I found on previous threads, and most of the places that come highly recommended are several hours away (3 hours plus...) from the Eden Project (and each other) by public transport. We'd be travelling there from South East England (in August, and I have not yet booked anything ).

Is this doable? Do we need to drop the Eden Project to make it doable?

I may be corrected by someone with more knowledge but I've holidayed in Cornwall a lot and if you want to see a few different places (esp the bigger attractions) I think a car is unavoidable. Is it motorway driving that worries you? Perhaps you could get public transport there and rent a car locally?? If not you can have a lovely holiday car-less but probably need to resign yourselves to thoroughly enjoying a smaller area by bike/ on foot.

Cornwall is abysmal for public transport (I'm a local resident).

However, I'm not sure where you're looking at for accommodation that's 3 hours drive from Eden?

Get the train in & rent a car for your holiday?

Or fly Gatwick to Newquay (about £100 each) but you are only in the air for an hour, pick a car up at Newquay.

Maybe you could look at staying at a few Airbnbs in different areas of Cornwall, and get one right near the Eden Project if possible?

Hi OP.

I live in Cornwall and really wouldn't recommend doing it by public transport. Like you've said lots of the places that are great to visit in the summer in Cornwall are miles apart and public transport down here isn't great and will eat up hours of your holiday.

Hope you have a lovely holiday if you do decide to visit.

It's not impossible - Falmouth has a train line from Truro and beaches, museums and easy places to find. The Eden project has a bus from St Austell so I presume it is near the train station. You can catch the train to St Ives, Penzance, Camborne, Redruth, Newquay. I would say that it might take some planning and might not be cheap or convenient but it is doable.

I was having this exact dilemma today! How on earth do i get from the East Midlands to cornwall without a car!?!?

It would be annoying cos there's not that many buses. If you want to visit different places you could stay in Wadebridge. You can go on pretty walks and bike rides there. It's a town with cafes,restaurants and a cinema. There's a bus station where you can get to several beaches and the eden project. But bus journeys will be at least 30 mins and not very regular. It might be better to just stay near a beach and not travel. Somewhere like Bude, Tintagel or Polzeath might be good but it would be much easier with a car.. what if it rains?

It's do-able. I'm from there originally and live in the SE. We usually get the train down, which is a lovely journey and very quick compared to driving and then rent down there.

If you stayed in Falmouth you would have beaches and amenities right there and could train it about- there is a bus to Eden from St Austell station.

But - you will miss the opportunity to go to some of the loveliest beaches and the moors. Bus transport in Cornwall is also shockingly expensive- probably actually cheaper to rent a car.

Public transport in Cornwall is awful. Sorry. (i live in Cornwall)

Like pp have said - train or plane (or bus if you have the endurance!) then rent a car is your best bet.

What part if driving makes you nervous? We have no motorways so if it is that kind of driving you don't like then it won't be an issue.

If you fear reversing on country lanes you are going to have a problem I'm afraid.

What are your 'must see' attractions and what sort of place do you want to stay? (town / rural / beach / moorland / glamping / etc?) maybe we could help you narrow down your search area?

Btw if you are looking at accommodation 3hrs from eden then it's in Devon!

ps we are in the same position in that I hate driving and dp doesn't drive. The lanes are fine - we were just there for a week and I didn't have one horrible reverse. Locals are generally accommodating. But if you do use public transport, don't forget the ferries.

Stay somewhere like st Ives or Hayle which have lovely beaches and you can get to by train pretty easily. Then plenty of places you can visit by train. Penzance, then St Michael's mount, Truro, Falmouth all easily doable by train.

Depending on where you stay, might there be coach trips to places like the Eden Project. I know my DM visited and did everything by coach, but this may have been an OAP tour.

This sort of thing?

Megabus from London Victoria. Quite good valid you book early enough ( from £30 return)

St Ives could be good for you. We holidayed there with preschool DC. Lovely beach, simple pleasures. It's not car-friendly so a good place to go by train.

We went on holiday to Cornwall a couple of years ago and ended up having to go by train (DH took the camping gear in his van which wasn't big enough for us all to fit in)

Luckily we had booked a site close to St Austell so we could get a bus from the station. There were buses to the Eden Project from there too.

We do a lot of walking as a family so luckily it didn't ruin our holiday being carless, lots of nice (but hilly!) coastal walks.

We stayed at a lovely park right on the coast called Pentewan Sands.

We're in the South east too and it took 6 hours on the train, with a couple of changes. A long time, but actually not that much longer than it took DH to drive in his van!

your biggest issue by far is finding somewhere to stay. school holidays have now started and most places will be booked up so its going to be a case of what you can find rather than being fussy about the area.

we holiday in Cornwall a lot. public transport is poor and you will be spending most of your time walking or waiting for a late bus. just don't do it if you want to have a relaxing holiday and get to see lots of things.

I would get a train or bus in and hire a car in Plymouth as there is a better selection here then drive in.

but first I would hit the last minute websites because due to the ban on holidays in term time, places in the UK, and cornwall is the number 1 holiday destination, get booked up months in advance.

if you have any flexibility at all I would go the first week in September when the schools are back. more choice and about half the price.

Thank you for all the kind replies!

Just to clarify the 3-hour thing, I was referring to distances by public transport. As you all were saying, connections exist but getting from A to B seems to take several times as long by public transport as by car.
I was hoping someone would come up with a suggestion that would magically prove to be the exception to the rule. I will look up the places that have been mentioned upthread.

What I hate about driving: fearing that I miss my turn and complex situations (e.g. trying to find and get into a parking lot on a narrow street with lots of traffic around me). Also not hot on getting onto very busy motorways. I can deal with it if must, but prefer someone sitting in the front scanning whatever situation is coming up and confirming my reactions. However, if I'm travelling only with DH and DC, he'll be in the back with DC (and would be of limited help in the front anyway).

I've managed driving in a continental capital and on the motorways around it, but did find it very stressful (and mostly had a co-pilot in the front). In the UK I've only actually driven in rural Yorkshire, and kept mainly to the country lanes as I preferred avoiding driving in towns.

So - I could probably deal with getting from a spacious parking lot on a beach via country lanes to an out-of-town sight with another spacious parking lot. Driving to places in a large town, or even driving through a large town, is something I'd rather avoid if I can!

What sort of place I'd like to stay, apart from the transport and availability constraints: not glamping and not a large town. A place with natural beauty and where I feel like I'm breathing fresh air as opposed to thick car fumes (which is my daily existence in a city). Close to a beach.

Secondary desirables: easy access to food (supermarkets are fine, a good restaurant would be lovely but not essential), something of cultural interest.

I do realise that I can't have the moon on a stick...

And thank you again for all the advice!

Forgot to add: no flexibility about the timing, unfortunately. I've seen some lovely places indeed, when I was experimentally poking around, that are fully booked up for the summer as well as costing multiples of the off-peak pricing. Something has got to still be available!

I'm definitely going by train the next time after it took me 10 hours to drive back home to London in half term.

Fuck that, never again. I've gone there a dozen times and it's always been dreadful traffic but this year I finally got too old for it.

I'm getting the train and a taxi the other side to my destination.

Hm, just looking at Pentewan Sands MyWhatICallNameChange. I had assumed that glamping locations are far from everything else including public transport, so really not possible without a car. You say you had a bus station right there that took you to St Austell?

Have you considered some more driving instruction to help your nerves? I did a guided drive with an instructor from the Institute of Advanced Motorists and it really helped me with my confidence. They do specific element courses as well as a general "how's my driving?" session. Obviously an expense but maybe one worth doing!

Have a look online at the town I live,It's called Lostwithiel.
Without a car I think your going to have to compromise on some things.
Lostwithiel has a train station,It's on the main line from Paddington to Penzance.
You can be in St Austell in 10 minutes on the train,they run regularly there every day.From St Austell you can get the bus to Eden which is under 10 minutes away.
You can also use the train service to visit St Ives.
Lostwithiel has a small museum,a good choice of restaurants,pubs,coffee shops and a supermarket.
There is Restormal castle here too if you like visiting castles.
We are not by the beach instead we have the river Fowey running through the town.
There is a man made beach area on one part of the river where children safely paddle or swim at high tide.The water is fresh water it's very clean.
There are numerous walks along the river,There are also two parks here.
There are lots of holiday cottages here,a hotel,lots of guesthouses/b&b's, and all the pubs do b&b too.
If you Google the town,you'll see how scenic it is and give you more information.
The only thing is places tend to book up quickly especially the holiday cottages.
But you really don't need a car to stay here or get here.

You could always go to Dorset instead but reckon you'd soon be ok withbthe driving (why can't your dh be in the front?)